A wicked weekend in Winchester
I've always been the kind of person that really enjoys having something to look forward to; equally I love reminiscing about adventures that I've been on. Our most recent one as a family was down in Winchester - once the capital of England - now a glorious historical city on the edge of the South Downs. The purpose for our visit? Our daughter turned 3 at the start of the year and come April, we made a saving on her childcare thanks to those funded 30 hours. So the money we had saved went towards an adventure for us, but more excitingly, an adventure for Megan.
Having been to Winchester the year before with my Mum for a girlie weekend, I already knew the perfect place to book to stay. Saskia's B&B in central Winchester has a perfect apartment - child & dog friendly less than five minute's walk to the city centre: https://www.visitwinchester.co.uk/listing/prince-of-wales/
The apartment has a galley kitchen, a large living room with dining room seating, heading up the spiral staircase, you have two beautifully presented bedrooms and a gorgeous bathroom. Its a great base for exploring the city and North Walls recreation ground is less than 10 minutes away; a perfect place for a dog walk and an evening run.
We arrived on the Friday night and had a cosy night in; a cooked chicken salad for us and a meander around Abbey Gardens with Megan and Baxter. There were parks a plenty dotted around and with the weather being so glorious (the start of the fantastic heatwave we've been enjoying!) it was joyous just being able to take a quick walk to one of the recreational parks with Baxter in tow. Saturday was all about Peppa Pig world - https://peppapigworld.co.uk/ And what a brilliant world it is for anyone under the age of five. The characters came out to say hello, staff were friendly, there were activities all over for the kids and refreshment points were welcoming especially in the afternoon sun. Although the queuing times for ride were a little longer in Peppa Pig World as opposed to Paulton's Park as a whole, it really didn't matter, Megan was just so mesmerized by this bubble that had been so brilliantly created; Peppa's house, Grandpa Pig's boat, the Queen's carriage, Miss Rabbit's Hot air balloon ride. Being a thrill seeker, I skipped off to the main park to try out a couple of the quicker rides - they didn't disappoint.
Sunday was a day of getting a nice breakfast - Loch Fyne - who were brilliant; we could sit in the corner eating our breakfast with Baxter who was surprisingly well behaved which is unusual when surrounded by the smell of bacon! Afterwards, we stopped by at my brother in law's for paddling pool and BBQ fun. It was the personification of a great family weekend.
The tribulations of taking a weekend break in the UK is the traffic. The drive down took almost 3 hours due to everyone else having the same idea as us, the journey from Winchester to Ower should be 30 minutes, instead, it took nearly 90 minutes, but despite these annoyances, it didn't detract, and it didn't ruin our brilliant weekend.
As always, I came back wishing that the break had been longer, the time I spend with my family is treasured. We immediately booked a week away for October and made a plan to really capitalise on our non term time holidays as Megan will be starting school in September 2019. Scary stuff!!!
Having been to Winchester the year before with my Mum for a girlie weekend, I already knew the perfect place to book to stay. Saskia's B&B in central Winchester has a perfect apartment - child & dog friendly less than five minute's walk to the city centre: https://www.visitwinchester.co.uk/listing/prince-of-wales/
The apartment has a galley kitchen, a large living room with dining room seating, heading up the spiral staircase, you have two beautifully presented bedrooms and a gorgeous bathroom. Its a great base for exploring the city and North Walls recreation ground is less than 10 minutes away; a perfect place for a dog walk and an evening run.
We arrived on the Friday night and had a cosy night in; a cooked chicken salad for us and a meander around Abbey Gardens with Megan and Baxter. There were parks a plenty dotted around and with the weather being so glorious (the start of the fantastic heatwave we've been enjoying!) it was joyous just being able to take a quick walk to one of the recreational parks with Baxter in tow. Saturday was all about Peppa Pig world - https://peppapigworld.co.uk/ And what a brilliant world it is for anyone under the age of five. The characters came out to say hello, staff were friendly, there were activities all over for the kids and refreshment points were welcoming especially in the afternoon sun. Although the queuing times for ride were a little longer in Peppa Pig World as opposed to Paulton's Park as a whole, it really didn't matter, Megan was just so mesmerized by this bubble that had been so brilliantly created; Peppa's house, Grandpa Pig's boat, the Queen's carriage, Miss Rabbit's Hot air balloon ride. Being a thrill seeker, I skipped off to the main park to try out a couple of the quicker rides - they didn't disappoint.
Sunday was a day of getting a nice breakfast - Loch Fyne - who were brilliant; we could sit in the corner eating our breakfast with Baxter who was surprisingly well behaved which is unusual when surrounded by the smell of bacon! Afterwards, we stopped by at my brother in law's for paddling pool and BBQ fun. It was the personification of a great family weekend.
The tribulations of taking a weekend break in the UK is the traffic. The drive down took almost 3 hours due to everyone else having the same idea as us, the journey from Winchester to Ower should be 30 minutes, instead, it took nearly 90 minutes, but despite these annoyances, it didn't detract, and it didn't ruin our brilliant weekend.
As always, I came back wishing that the break had been longer, the time I spend with my family is treasured. We immediately booked a week away for October and made a plan to really capitalise on our non term time holidays as Megan will be starting school in September 2019. Scary stuff!!!
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